Written By Gopal Krishna on Friday, January 31, 2014 | 4:23 AM

Legacy of environmental
lawlessness must be undone, an urgent inquiry into the questionable affairs
of DPCC is a must

Zero Waste approach should be
adopted to deal with garbage crisis, not NIMBYismDelhi Environment Minister, Saurabh
Bhardwaj’s promise of action against Okhla waste incinerator plant is a welcome
change from the previous regime but Delhi Pollution Control Committee
(DPCC)’s legacy of complicity remains a
matter of concern. Residents of Okhla and environmental groups are hopeful that
the consent to establish (No Objection Certificate) given by DPCC to the
plant in question will be withdrawn to save Delhi from an avoidable
environmental health crisis. This will be a step to undo the legacy of environmental lawlessness in Delhi.

DPCC is guilty of having facilitated the fake public hearing for the
plant which led to the grant of NOC and environmental clearance in 2007. For a
plant in Okhla, the hearing was done in Saket in presence of just three persons
who were officials of the government and even this was announced for “waste
processing facility” not for waste to energy (WTE) plant. This fact has been
noted in writing by the then Union Minister of Environment & Forests in a
letter to the previous Chief Minister but she being anti-environment and
anti-people chose to collude with the waste incinerator company in
question.This letter was shared with
the Delhi Environment Minister by the delegation.

The Okhla Waste to Energy (WTE) Incinerator plant by JITF
Urban Infrastructure Limited (Jindal Ecopolis) has violated every rule in the
rule book including environmental clearance conditions with complicity from the
DPCC. An inquiry must be ordered to examine the dubious circumstances in which
environmental regulations were admittedly violated with impunity. Based on the
documents on record, complaints of the residents, the letter of Union Minister
of Environment & Forests, fraudulent misrepresentation of facts regarding
the project being in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order, minutes of the
public hearing and the EIA report, there is a compelling logic for conducting
an inquiry and fixing accountability for the acts of omission and commission of
the officials in this matter.

This lawlessness was unleashed on the residents of Okhla
and Okhla Bird Sanctuary by Prithiviraj Jindal’s waste to energy plant based on
unapproved and experimental Chinese technology. DPCC has consistently been
indulgent and has been misleading the authorities disregarding the fact of Okhla
colonies which are getting engulfed from the dust and pollution from the plant
including New Friends Colony, Maharani Bagh, Ishwar Nagar, Sukhdev Vihar, Jamia
Nagar, Jasola Vihar and Sarita Vihar Jamia Millia Islamia university, Holy
Family hospital and several other colonies and institutions.

The fact is that burning or
incineration or combustion is unambiguously polluting. It may be noted that mother's
milk in areas where waste burning takes place has already been tested and found
to contain high amount of dioxins. Dioxins, are well known carcinogenic
chemicals. Incinerators also emit greenhouse gases, especially from plastics.
Incineration drives a negative spiral of increased energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions. Also, restrictive policies in typical incinerator
contracts require a set amount of garbage. These contracts impose fees that
that are a disincentive for a city to improve waste prevention strategies (i.e.
reduction), recycling and composting collections.

Instead of making Delhi citizens
suffer from such hazardous technologies there is a need for integrated zero waste
management. Take the case of Gandhi Nagar, a town panchayat of around 2,400
families in Vellore district, Tamil Nadu. Gandhi Nagar generates garbage of
over 48 tonnes per year. This garbage is converted into manure and recyclable
waste generating over Rs.3 lakh in revenue, and the scheme provides employment
to local people. Such measures promote sustainable development as against the
current trend of introducing failed polluting technologies, which turn citizens
into guinea pigs for experiments. Zero
Waste approach should be adopted to deal with garbage crisis, not NIMBYism (Not
in My Back Yard). Waste should not be shifted from richer localities to poorer
localities.

The Inter-Ministerial Task Force
on Integrated Plant Nutrient Management has recommended setting up of 1000
compost plants all over the country and has allocated Rs.800 crore for the same
in the year 2005. This report has been submitted in the Supreme Court in the
writ petition (civil) no. 888/1996) case. Notably, this report recommends
composting as a measure for waste management instead of energy recovery because
Indian soil is carbon deficit.

The ideal resource management
strategy for municipal solid waste is to avoid its generation in the first
place. This implies changing production and consumption patterns to eliminate
the use of disposable, non-reusable, non-returnable products and packaging. The
alternative waste disposal methods include waste reduction, waste segregation
at source, extended use and refuse, recycling, biomethanation technology and
composting. Zero Waste approach should be
adopted to deal with garbage crisis, not NIMBYism

In sum, the waste incinerator
projects are technologically incompatible with reducing dioxins emissions and
at the same time relies on minimum guaranteed waste flows. It indirectly
promotes continued waste generation while hindering waste prevention, reuse,
composting, recycling, and recycling-based community economic development. It
costs cities and municipalities more and provides fewer jobs than comprehensive
recycling and composting. It prohibits the development of local recycling-based
businesses.

In keeping with the
characteristics of Indian municipal solid waste -- low calorific value, high
moisture content, high proportion of organic matter, and considerable inerts
like earth, sand and grit – that the Supreme Court Committee on Solid Waste
Management suggested simple technologies and easily achievable standards with
liberal timeframe knowing the limitations of urban local bodies and their
institutional capabilities. It made recommendations to improve the finances of
urban local bodies and to boost the composting of waste and recycling industry
in this field. Recycling can eliminate a large chunk of the problem. Wet
biodegradable wastes (e.g. cooked and uncooked foods and flowers) make
excellent for composting. Indian soil is deficient in carbon and that is also
the need of the hour to enrich the soil. In the US alone, recycling conserves
an equivalent of approximately 11.9 billion gallons of gasoline, and reduces
greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking one-fifth (40 million) of all US
cars off the roads every year.

The move by the incineration
industry to term waste incinerators as 'renewable energy' projects is not only
fraudulent but also dangerous. The 25 year power purchase agreement for
purchase of 50 % of what is generated (4-5 MW) by the Jindal’s plant in Okhla must
be rescinded in view of the above facts. Municipal solid waste is not
considered to be a renewable energy source since it tends to be a mixture of
fuels that can be traced back to renewable and non-renewable sources. An inquiry
is needed to examine as how much power has been generated and added by this
unit. The agreement was signed under the misleading assumption that WTE is
renewable energy. The advocates of incinerators prefer to pre-empt segregation
and recycling efforts being made by municipalities and communities around the
world. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is due to hear the matter at next date
of hearing is on 19-02-2014.

A delegation of Okhla Anti-Incinerator Committee (OAIC) and ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA) met the minister on January 27, 2014 to apprise him of the
scandal of the waste based power plant and shared documents which nail the lies
of the company that runs the plant and the regulators.